Alternian Skirmish
by diatonicAlto
Summary: Karkat Vantas is a lime blood who is on the run, fearing for his life for one reason: He may or may not have done things that would piss a lot of people off in the Alternian empire and also get himself kicked out of the Threshecutioner Corps. After a sweep and a half of running, the Drones are finally on his trail, and he can no longer stay in one place for more than a few perigees
1. Chapter 1

The sound of rapid footsteps awakes you from unconsciousness. A violent pain begins to throb at your side. Glancing down, you examine your hip, noticing there's a huge gash. Well. Fuck. It's not like you didn't know it was there, you just fucking forgot after you passed out. The sound was getting increasing louder as they inched closer towards the enterance of the cave you were held up in. You unhook your sickle from its sheath and scooch back as far back as you can, until your back hits the end of the cave.

Holding your sickle tight against your chest, you feel your self-level switch to battle mode. All of your sense heighten, and quiet growls begin to pour out of your throat.

The footsteps begin to slow as your growling starts. You hear someone say something in a low, cryptic voice. Despite having very keen auricular sponge clots, you can't seem to understand what the troll is saying. As the voice stops, the footsteps begin to move again, 4 sets of feet scrambling past your cave. You analyze the noise of their feet stomping against the gound, and you realize it isn't quite like the sound from before. It's missing another set of feet. Where's the other guy?

Once the sounds of feet fades, you hear shuffling across the dirt outside, and your growling begins to pick up in volume.

What you can make out as a troll's legs and its feet, stands in front of the tiny entrance of the cave. It bends, revealing a... grass skirt? No, it's brown cloth wrapped around its waist, dumbdumb. Who the fuck wears grass skirts anymore? That shit went out of fashion sweeps ago.

A hand pokes into the entrance, and then a type of "tsk tsk tsk" noise sounds. The troll's three center fingers begin to wiggle.

"Here, kitty kitty kitty." The troll says. It's the same voice from before. He must thing you're a scared, hiding meowbeast or something. To be honest, you are. Minus the meowbeast part of course.

Your growling grows louder, and the troll laughs in a low tone.

"C'mon, kitty, I wont hurt ya." He says again. You snarl at him, hissing afterwards. "Fine, if ya wont come out, then I'll come in and get you out."

The grip on your sickle tightens in your hands as he bends down and rests on his knees for a second before crawling in a bit.

The man has shaggy, messy hair, and long twisted horns. An indigo blindfold covers his eyes, with what looks like a ":o(" and a "(o:" over where his eyes should be. There are several beaded necklaces hanging off his scarred chest.

He lifts his blindfold with one finger and is surprised at what he sees. Fucker really did think you were a meowbeast. What, can he not tell the difference between a meowbeasts growl and a trolls?

"Oh, shit..." The man whispered to himself. He looked you over with concern. You growl loudly at him. "Shhhhshsh... It's alright, bro, no need to be afraid..."

He crawls toward you, slowly. You feel yourself beginning to panic, and your body starts shaking.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya, don't worry." He tells you, voice calm and quiet. You swallow hard, trying to scooch back more.

"Go away!" You shout, voice cracking. He only crawls closer, not flinching one bit as you whip your sickle at him. It cuts his cheek, but he pays no mind to it. You wince as you move your arm the wrong way, feeling your wound rip open. You put pressure on the gash in the side of your hip.

He stops in front of you, and sits. You stare up at him, your eyes wide with ear.

"Lemme see it." The troll says staring directly at your blood stained hand. You hiss at him, and he grabs your wrist, tugging it away from the wound. You whimper as your claws dig into the wound as he pulls them away.

He looks over the gash before reaching into one of the many bags he has tied around his waist. He pulls out what looks like a bottle of green ointment and bandages.

He sets them down beside him and reaches for the buttons on your pants. You kick him in the stomach, pushing him backward.

"Shit, man, why'd you do that?" The troll asks.

"When someone who I have no business knowing tries to unbutton my pants, I either cut their fucking throat, or kick them away." You snarl. "You're lucky I didn't do the first option."

"Well, the pants are gonna have to either come off or be pulled down so I can get at that nasty gash and patch you up, brother."

"I'm fine..." You say, voice heavy. "Just leave me the fuck alone, highblood."

"Nuh uh." He replies. "And, I'm no highblood. I'm just Gamzee."

You stare at him.

"But..." You pause. "You're a subjuggulator. Why aren't you wearing that title like it's a fucking trophy-"

"Bro," The troll, whose name is apparently Gamzee, begins. "I never asked to be hatched a highblood. All I want is peace."

Wait a second.

You look him over once more. Suddenly, all he's saying makes sense to you.

"You're a tribal..." You say quietly.

"Shhh," He puts a finger to your lips. "Now, let me unbutton your motherfuckin' pants."

You swallow, nodding. You slump back against the wall as this stranger begins to unbutton your pants. You feel your cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Once he's finished unbuttoning them, he tugs down the side of the fabric to get at the wound. Gamzee pops open the lid of the ointment and dips two fingers into it.

"This might sting a bit." He warns you. You nod again and bite you lip. He spreads the ointment on the gash gently, but you cry out in pain regardless. "Shhhshhhsh." He paps you lightly with his free hand. As soon as that's all done, he unravels the bandages.

"Lift your shirt up."

You do as he says. Gamzee begins to wrap your entire waist up with gauze bandages, and then does a second layer. He tapes the ending piece down.

"There we go." He says to himself, looking you over once more. He motions for you to follow him. "C'mon."

He crawls out of the cave, expecting you to follow him. You sigh, and follow him out. He saved you from bleeding out, so doing as he says is the least you could do. It was one of the rules that the Threshecutioner's Corp forced on you, and you can't help but stay loyal to their code. Once you're out of the cave, Gamzee slings an arm around your shoulder. He begins to lead you towards what looks like a camp from what you can see. Your self-lever switched back to normal, and you feel yourself calming down. You're not sure why. Normally, you'd still be cautious if a total stranger was taking you somewhere you didn't have an knowledge of. But, for some reason, you feel completely relaxed.

"So, mind tellin' me how you all up and got that nasty motherfuckin' gash?" He asks, and you roll your eyes.

"How the fuck do you /think/ I got it?" You answer with another question. "Some asshole stabbed me."

"Why'd you get stabbed?" He asks, and you groan. You're not in the mood for such annoyance.

"Why do you think?!" You repeat yourself, this time, your voice raised.

"I dunno, bro." Gamzee shrugs, papping your cheek.

"Stop papping me, you nauseating shitstain!" You hiss, swatting his hand away from your face. "Saving me doesn't give you the fucking right to pap me."

"Just tryin'a help you relax is all." He sighs, and you sigh with him.

"I know, I'm sorry..." You apologize quietly. "It's just... This is the first time in a while that I've interacted with someone who didn't want to kill me."

"Nah, It's alright, man." Gamzee pats your back. "I understand how that is. So, tell lil ol' Gamzee why another motherfucker stabbed ya."

You stay silent for a moment, reluctant over whether or not you should tell this complete stranger the story. You guess it couldn't hurt. He did save you, after all.

"Well..." You begin, starting to reconsider talking again. Shaking your head, you decide to man up and tell him. "... I have a bounty over my head.. And, I made the mistake of going into a town that's empire allied, and they all went shithive maggots and tried to kill me. As you can see, one guy managed to land a hit on me, thus resulting in this horribly disgusting, painful gash in my god damn hip."

"Shit, bro, sorry that happened to ya." Gamzee sighs. "You should probably stay out of towns until this stuff blows over, man."

"Yeah, no shit." You roll your eyes yet again. "Wasn't planning on going back anyway."

An awkward silence looms over you and the tribal. You stare at the ground under you as Gamzee leads you to the entrance of the camp. Instantly, a smokey smell fills your sniffnodes, throwing you into an endless coughing fit. The smoke gets thicker, causing the coughing to worsen.

"Jesus, what the fuck-" You say before bursting into another fit of coughs. The fucking smoke is so thick and is too much for your baby airsacs.

"Never smelled hookah smoke before, brother?" Gamzee laughs as he leads you to a circle of sitting tribal indigo, teal, and olivebloods who are sitting in the center of the camp, surrounding a large machine. You shake your head in response to his question, covering your mouth with some of your cape. "You haven't lived until you've smoked that shit."

"Fuck you so hard up the wastechute with a goddamn 4 wheeled transportation device if you think I'm letting that shit enter my airsacs!" You growl, a slight cough in your voice.

"Now that I think about it, you do seem a little too young for smokin' hookahs." Gamzee says, a familiar tone in his voice. You know exactly what he's doing. Trying to peer pressure you by using reverse psychology. That snide asshole. But, you wont fall for that. Not again. You've let it happen before, and it led you into some bad situations.

"How old are ya, anyways?" He asks.

"8." You respond truthfully. Admittedly, you are rather young, but you get what you want with no age restrictions to worry about. You're the fucking Captain of the Threshecutioners Corp. Well, you /were/ Captain of the Threshecutioners Corp. But, you can still get what you want!

"Damn, bro, you're still a grub!" The tribal exclaims, stretching his words slightly.

"Yeah?" You say, setting your voice into a questioning tone. "And just how old are YOU, hm? Answer me that, Mr. Tribal."

"13 sweeps, brother." Gamzee says, a slight chuckle in his voice. Your jaw drops open in pure astonishment. He's almost the same age as Lieutenant Ampora.

"YOU'RE SO OLD!" You shout, still shocked by the answer you received. Gamzee begins to laugh again, this time, much harder.

"Older than I look, aren't I?" He continues to laugh. Soon, he cools down, and his attention falls to his fellow tribals. "Yo, I forgot what your name was. Back a brother up and tell me what it was again?"

"What, is your thinkpan failing you, old man?" You say in a serious voice, but in a joking manner. "The reason you don't remember my name is because I never told you it in the first place."

"Then motherfuckin' tell me." Gamzee says, and you grunt in response. What if he turns you into the Drones? They'll be here in an instant, and you'd have no time to flee. You'd be culled on the spot. You don't want to die. You have so much left to do, so much left to live for. You've never even had a proper Matesprit or Kismesis! Kanaya was right, your quadrants have been a total mess since the start. You miss Kanaya. You miss her so fucking much. "Bro, you still there?"

"Wha-" You're snapped back to reality by Gamzee's low, steady voice. "Yeah, yeah... Sorry... My name's Karkat..."

Fuck, now you can't stop thinking about Kanaya. God dammit, Vantas. Way to throw yourself into another whirl of fucking depression over the ordeal. You should just shut up before you make yourself anymore upset.

Gamzee removes his arm from your shoulder and claps his hands twice. Once again, you're brought back to reality, this time brought back to the sight of eyes on you and Gamzee.

"Brothers and Sisters!" He calls to them. "We have a guest tonight! This limeblooded motherfucker is my new friend, Karkat. Treat him with respect and make him feel safe and welcome in our home."

One by one, they all stood up and approached you. All of them greeted you, shaking your hand with warm smiles on their faces. It made you feel warm inside, seeing the smiles of these strangers. The sight of others happy has always made /you/ happy. Once all of the tribals finished shaking your hand, Gamzee put his hand on your shoulder.

"Hey, Karbro," Gamzee begins. "There's someone ya gotta meet."


	2. Chapter 2

Gamzee grabs your hand and yanks you towards one of the larger huts in the camp. The hut curtain is pulled open slightly to the side, and he motions you inside, him following closely behind you.

There's a man with messier hair than Gamzee's, long, curved horns like Gamzee's, and face paint. There were lines painted over his lips, as if he had sewn his lips shut (creepy), and there was a woman with very long, curly hair in an olive colored outfit, at his side. Her head was resting against his shoulder, and she had a tiny smile on her face. What looked like a bright blue tail, was swishing ever so slightly back and forth behind her. They both had their eyes shut, like they were asleep.

"GAMZEE." A rather loud, deep voice booms, echoing throughout the hut. You look around frantically, searching for the source of the voice. No one had opened their mouths. Where did that come from? "WHO IS THIS STRANGER?"

Gamzee's hand returns to your shoulder.

"This is Karkat." Gamzee explains to the voice. "I found him held up in the cave outside of camp. The one where Sister Meulin's lusus usually sleeps. I patched him all up and brought him back here."

There was silence for a moment.

"AH, I SEE." The voice begins again. "WELCOME, FRIEND. I AM CHIEF KURLOZ. MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE HERE. REST."

"T-thank you, sir..." You mumble, backing up into Gamzee accidentally. Gamzee chuckles quietly before leading you back out of the hut.

As soon as you're out, you're greeted by a girl who is slightly taller than you. She has short hair, and short horns, like yours, except hers are pointed and sharp. Her arms are crossed over her teal-clothed chest. A red skirt, similar to Gamzee's, hangs loosely around her waist. She has a read blindfold, or what's supposed to be USED as a blindfold, is tied around her forehead.

She appears so suddenly, and it causes you to jump back and yelp. An obnoxious, loud laugh escapes her throat. You cringe in response. God, her teeth are horrid. They're like shark teeth. Disgusting.

"So" She says, her voice smooth, looking you over with those icy-teal eyes of hers. "Who's the little goblin?"

You sputter.

"EXCUSE me?!" Hissing at her only gets you another one of her terrible laughs. Ugh. It makes you want to throw up the contents of your stomach.

"Wow, where'd you find /this/ one, Gamzee?" The girl snorts. "He looks like a spoiled brat!"

"Listen here, you disgusting, shark-toothed heathen-" You growl before Gamzee slaps a hand over your mouth.

"Karbro." He says quietly, eyes darted down at you. You swallow back your words and glance to the side, and Gamzee's hand moves off your mouth. "'Rezi, this is Karkat."

"OoooooOOOooh!" 'Rezi' sounds, in mock astonishment. What a snide shit. "So, this is the kid everyone's making suck a fuss about! I don't see what the big deal is. He's just another stupid imperial."

Your eye twitches, and you glare at her, tempted to punch her hard in that ugly, pointy nose of hers.

"Nah, sis, you got it all wrong!" Gamzee states. "Karbro's on the run from the empire."

You stare at him, your eyes wide. Did he just fucking tell her that you're on the run? How much of an idiot IS this asshole?! Unbelievable! You seriously can't trust anyone! Even he ratted you out!

"What?!" She shouts, looking back and forth between you and Gamzee. "You brought a fugitive into our camp?! Makara, why the fuck didn't you turn him into the Drones?! Have you no sense of justice?!"

You flinch upon hearing her mention the Drones. Gamzee notices this.

"Terezi, he's just a kid." He defends you. "Now, I don't care about none of your 'justice' bullshit he's not a bad kid, and he doesn't deserve to have any of this shit happenin' to him."

Rezi, whose name is apparently 'Terezi' now, groans, and covers her eyes with her hands. She lulls her head back in annoyance and turns around, walking forward a bit before stepping back to her original spot and turning back to face you and Gamzee.

"You're going to get us all in trouble by having him here!" Terezi shouts again. "Listen, I don't want anything bad to happen to those of us living here. You're putting us all in danger-"

"NOTHING BAD IS GONNA HAPPEN." Gamzee raises his voice at Terezi. Frankly, it scared you. And, by the look of Terezi's face, she was scared, too. You take it that Gamzee isn't one to raise his voice. He seems like a troll who's usually calm and collected. So, this is probably rare. "I wont let nothin' happen, you hear me? 'Rezi, I've protected this place for as long as you've been motherfuckin' living. No Drone is gonna stop me from protectin' my family."

Terezi stares at him for a moment, before sighing and crossing her arms again.

"Whatever." She says. "Just... don't get him or you or me or ANYONE into trouble, okay? I don't want to see anyone hurt ever again because of anothers idiocy."

There's an obvious troubled expression on Terezi's face and she turns and walks away towards one of the other huts, the one closest to the entrance of the camp. As she leaves, you look here over once more. Her body sways left and right gracefully as she moves, her curvy figure making the sight all the better. You feel heat rise to your cheeks before you realize that you're fucking /gawking/ at the woman who pretty much just told Gamzee to send you to your death. Gamzee apparently notices your gawking, because he starts to laugh and pat your back.

"Beauty, isn't she?" He says, watching her himself. You swallow, nodding.

"Yeah..." You say to yourself. "She is..."

After about 20 minutes or so of thinking about your hateboner for some chick you just met, you're brought back to reality, and you realize you're sitting inside a different hut, with Gamzee. The both of you are laying on the floor of the hut, sprawled out next to each other, staring up at the ceiling. You haven't really been paying attention to what he was talking about, so whenever he says something that requires an answer, you make a quiet "mm" noise, and he continues.

It was quiet, aside from whatever the fuck Gamzee was rambling on about, and the hum of a white noise machine that was placed next to the curtain of the hut. You wallowed in your thoughts some more, tuning Gamzee out completely. To be honest, your thinkpan isn't a safe place to be right now. Then again, when is it really ever a safe place? The only thing there is depressing things and memories of the horrible things you've done in the past.

An image of Kanaya flashes in your pan for a split second, and you feel like crying. You'd give anything to see her again. Anything to see her smile, laugh, sing you to sleep... You'd do anything. She was like the lusus you've never had. Everything you've dreamed about when it comes to a custodial figure. You might even go to lengths and say that you were pale for her. But, it's all gone now. And, so is she.

You catch a whimper in your throat before it actually manages to squeeze its way out into the air. You attempt to recollect yourself before Gamzee notices. Fuck man. It wasn't this hard at first. But, now, you're starting to feel guilty... and very fucking regretful. You can't stop thinking about it. The entire god damn incident replays over and over in your head, and it physically PAINS you to see it.

You just wish it would stop. But, you know it wont. Not until you're caught and you face your punishment. At this point, you deserve it. All the pain that comes your way is karma's way of telling you that you fucked up.


	3. Chapter 3

Boredom overtook you for the first time in almost a sweep. Being on the run constantly makes a Troll far too busy, there really wasn't really any time to be bored.

You're still laying on the floor, staring up at the top of the hut, this time, you were alone. The wonderful silence leaving you to your thoughts. You made sure to avoid the depressing ones , though. It was rather hard to keep your mind from going into the dark depths of your thinkpan. Instead, you attempt to remember the good memories. If you could even get to finding them, that is. You let your mind wander for a bit, hoping they'd come back on their own. You tend not to dwell on your past, but lately it's been rather hard /not/ to dwell on it. Seeing as how you had nothing better to do, you made an acception.

You remember when you had just turned 5 sweeps. You had already been enrolled in the Threshecutioner trainee program at the Empress' castle. Well, it wasn't much of a castle, it was more of a military base than anything. Though, her actual hive was connected to the top of it. But, you weren't allowed up there.

For your 5th wriggling day, the little heiress, Feferi, had taken you and two others up to her and the Empress' shared hive. It had been the only time the guards had let you into there. It was like she had planned ahead of time and told the guards to let you through. Dwelling on the fact was still rather weird.

The trip to the dining hall of the Empress' hive was terrifying in a way. You were incredibly nervous the entire time of you being there. You were still scared of the Empress at the time, due to her threatening to cull you if you were late to practice again or even missed a night. Because of this, you had returned to practice sick and spread your sickness to everyone and it fucked the entire trainee squad over. The Empress' stupidity was realized that day.

Your whole time of walking to the dining hall included you glancing around the rooms you entered in fear of seeing the Empress, laughs from the Trolls accompanying you, and the yellowblood, Mother Grub forbid remember his name, scaring you every so often and making you cry.

Now that you think about it, it wasn't all that great of a wriggling day. You cried a lot because of that asshole. But, aside from that, it was fun, you guess.

When you actually got to the dining hall, your expectations of it dropped, because when you got there, it was only a medium sized room with table and 6 chairs in the center. Though, it makes sense to you now, why it was small, you mean. Only two Trolls ate in there, after all. It didn't bother you at the time, either. You were just disappointed, kinda. The room was cozy and connected to a "Living room", whatever the hell that was. Thinking about it, you begin to wonder if it's the equivalent of an Entertainment Block. It would make sense if it was.

The "Living room" was full of book shelves, with lots of books filling its shelves. There was a large flat-screened Film Box, though it was more of an Film thin-rectangle than anything else. A very squishy, comfortable looking couch was in the center of the room, and you wanted to throw yourself on it and burrow yourself into the cushions. You were able to, actually, for about 3 minutes before the other 3 pushed there way onto the couch. In front of the couch was a coffe table with a few game grub cosoles place on top.

It was everything you ever dreamed of.

The four of you had played for hours in that room, switching between playing games on the various consoles, reading some of the books on the bookshelves, and watching movies on the "TV", as Feferi had called it. That was the night you realized your love for Romantic Comedies.

You remember that you, Feferi, and the violetblood had picked out a movie, and the yellowblood hated it. Half way through the movie, he had fallen asleep, his head in your lap and his legs stretched out across Feferi and the violetblood's. Every now and again, you would look down at him and smile. He had looked like a grub when he slept. You couldn't stop yourself from brushing his bangs out of his face and out from under those stupid 3D glasses he wore. He'd snort every so often in his sleep, and it would lighten the mood and get the 3 of you to stop crying at the sad parts.

You're not sure why you can only remember Feferi's name and not the other two. All you can remember about them is their appearances, and that the violetblood was related to Lieutenant Ampora. He was really gossipy and always had something to tell you. The two of you were deemed "Gossiping Bitches" by Feferi and the yellowblood.

If you remember correctly, you were rather close with the other guy, too. The two of you would bicker constantly, but that only strengthened your relationship. When you'd start to feel guilty about all the things you'd said to him, you'd always ask him if you were still friends, and of course, each time, he'd reply with a yes. He had this really stupid nickname for you. It was, like, "KK" or something dumb like that. When you had time to, you'd always go to his living area in the base and play game grubs with him. You even spent a few days over there.

Whoa, your train of thought went completely off the handle there. Get back to the party, numbnuts!

Once all of the movies you had planned out were done with, Feferi dragged all of you back into the dining hall. There was a girl about a sweep older than you, setting down a platter of cake. The frosting was grey, and it had 3 smaller layers stacked on top of the main layer of the cake. There were green frosting flowers spread around the edges of each layer. Thinking back to that cake is starting to make your stomach growl. Just the sight of it made you hungry. When you actually got around to eating the cake, you were literally drooling. It tasted like what you thought heaven was like compacted into a 4 layered cake!

The girl who had served you and your 3 buddies had asked you if she could have a small slice. Being the young, friendly pupa you were, you let her have a chunk off of the middle layer. She had smiled and thanked you, telling you that she was very grateful to your generosity. The girl had scarfed that fucking cake down like she hadn't eaten in sweeps. You were surprised that she could even stomach such a large piece of the cake.

After that, you had decided to talk to her a bit more, and find out more about her. You learned her name was Kanaya, and she was one of the Empress' servants. She helped design Feferi and the Empress' clothing along with her Genetic Donor.

You had made sure to look around for Kanaya whenever you could, and certain times you had found her speaking to a woman who was about 14 or 15 sweeps old. She looked exactly like Kanaya, except she was older. She was gorgeous. The clothing she was dressed in made you gape at her in pure astonishment. It was like she was some type of Goddess (back when you even believed in that bullshit). A real, living Goddess. You don't know what happened to that woman from then on. You never really saw her around the base after seeing her talking with Kanaya. After that, you only saw Kanaya around.

But, from then on, you and Kanaya become really close, and she'd join you, Feferi, and the other two douchebags in your antics around the base when you had spare time. Your youth is something you really adore thinking about. Particularly because it was so fun, and you had people you could trust to be around.

You wonder what happened to them once you left.

Sighing, you come out of your thoughts, leaning forward and rubbing your forehead. You were completely and utterly exhausted. It felt like you had all of the energy drained out of you. You stand up, stretching out your body, before the curtain of the hut is pulled open, gently. Gamzee enters with a smile on his face.

"Time to hit the sopor, Karbro." He tells you. You stare at him with a confused look on your face. Was it really that late? You walk passed him and poke your head out of the curtain, and you're nearly blinded by the fucking sun. You jump back quickly and rub your eyes. Holy shit, that was close. "Watch yourself there, brother. Don't wanna motherfuckin' burn out your ocular jellies."

"Yeah, no fucking shit." You grunt, squinting so you could try to see better. You think you actually blinded yourself a bit there. Well, fuck. Gamzee nudges you with his elbow, and then holds on his hand. There's a small green pill in the palm of his hand. "What is this?"

"Sopor pill." Gamzee says flat out. "Easier than sleepin' in sopor and getting your clothes all dirty, am I right?"

You shrug, taking the pill out of his hand. You drop it in your mouth and swallow it dry, like the badass man you are. Gamzee pats your back and sits you down in the corner of the hut, on a surprisingly comfortable sleeping bag. It's obvious that he wants you to climb inside of it and get cozy, because you and him both knew you were stuck in this hut until night time, so you mind as well sleep the time away. Gamzee had walked over to the other side of the room and climbed in his own sleeping bag. He rolled around a lot before stopping. You begin to hear quiet snoring coming from his general direction.

You groan, closing your eyes, attempting to drift into a sound sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Your sleep was filled with horrible Horror Terrors, due to the weak sopor supply in the pill Gamzee had given you. How the fuck did they manage sleeping with the help of hardly any sopor? Did they suffer with Horror Terrors every day? If so, then how did they stand it? That's something you'll never understand.

You groan, rolling around in your sleeping bag uncomfortably. Your back hurts It's this fucking ground this hut was put over. There's a god damn lump of dirt or some shit stabbing into your back right now, and it's extremely uncomfortable. You lay on your side and sigh. At least Gamzee looks comfortable. All snuggled up in that fluffy sleeping bag he's in. Lucky bastard.

What time was it even? You had to have slept at least a few hours. The sun should be going down now. By the looks of things, the hut is darker than it was before you went to sleep. Maybe it's already Night time. Your vision is still a little shitty, thanks to you nearly blinding yourself. Nice job, fuckhead. Maybe you should just wait a while before you unzip yourself and go outside.

...

NAH. 'Fuck that' you think, attempting to squeeze your arms out of the sleeping bag. Once you manage that, you unzip the sleeping bag and stand. God, your body is stiff. Stretching yourself out, you move towards the curtain and pull it open just a bit to check the lighting outside. It was dark out. Thank fucking god. You really weren't in the mood to blind yourself again, and the thought of having to stay held up in the hut with nothing to do for a few more hours makes your cringe. It would've sucked majorly.

You step outside of the hut as quietly as you can. Don't wanna wake anyone up, seeing as how you were the only one outside, and as far as you knew, the only one who was awake also. Well, you thought you were, up until you felt someone tap you on the shoulder. You jump 10 feet in the air before you realize who had poked you.

Little Miss Terezi.

"Hey." She says, and you relax instantly at the thought of it just being the girl you had a hate boner for. Whew. She giggles at your reaction to seeing her. "...Can we talk?"

"Uh..." You sound, looking around nervously. "Sure..."

"You seriously need to relax, Karkat, sorry to break it to you." Terezi sigh, grabbing your arm and dragging you to the center o the camp. She sits you down on one of the cushions, and then she sits on the one beside yours.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." You roll your eyes. "I can't exactly relax around the Troll who told my only current friend to send me to my death."

She's silent for a moment.

"...That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Terezi admits. "Look, I'm sorry about all the things I said. My old Legislacerator self must've broken free after being stored away for such a long time. As you can clearly see, I don't react well when a criminal or a fugitive is brought into my new life. It reminds me of my days busting the asses of Trolls like you."

"You were a Legislacerator?" You ask her, and she nods. "Wow, I honestly don't know how I didn't see that coming. Your under-suit looks similar to the Capital's Legislacerator uniform, and I've been living there my whole life, so I don't know why I didn't recognize it."

"I would've gotten rid of it if I hadn't decided to live with these guys." Terezi explains, grunting slightly. "I mean, have you /SEEN/ how the women here dress? They're pretty much NAKED!"

You let out a laugh, the first laugh you've let out in a very long time. Terezi laughs with you.

"Yeah, hehehe-, I'm not exactly ready to give up my uniform either, hehe..." You say, attempting to stop laughing. Wiping your eyes, you take a deep breath to help compose yourself. Terezi's calmed herself as well. She takes a swift look at your outfit once more before speaking.

"Are you a Threshecutioner?" She questions you

"Was." You correct her. "I /was/ a Threshecutioner. Pretty high up in the ranks, too. I was the captain of the lead squad."

"What happened?" She asks yet another questions. "To make you leave, I mean."

"Well," You begin. "I didn't want to leave. I was forced to. Everyone who I cared about was at that base, Terezi. It's almost been 2 whole sweeps since I've been gone, actually. And the fucking empire still hasn't forgotten what I've done. Haven't they ever fucking heard 'live and let live'?! It's been so long! And it's obvious that they wont forget, no matter how much my little Heiress asked them to, they're still after me."

"Your little Heiress?" Terezi asks, seemingly more interested than before. "Do you mean the Heiress to the Throne?"

You nod.

"There isn't an Heiress anymore, Karkat." She tells you, and you feel your bloodpusher sink. Did she mean... Feferi was gone? "There hasn't been an Heiress since-"

"What happened to Feferi?!" You ask, becoming more and more upset as time went by. You really hope she's okay. You'd be devastated if anything bad happened to her. Your thinkpan is running to the worst of conclusions, and it's driving you crazy.

"Karkat, calm down!" Terezi shouts, noticing how much you're panicking at the moment. She whacks your cheek in a horrible attempt at papping you. "Feferi is the Empress!"

A wave of relief flows over you, and now you can't stop smiling. Your best friend is the Empress... She's okay, and she's the strongest Troll in the whole fucking world. You have nothing to worry about now.

"You were friends with Empress Feferi?" More questions from the Prosecutioner. You nod, a smile still on your face.

"She was my best friend for the longest time." You explain. "I wonder if she still remembers me."

"Pretty sure that if you're a fugitive, she'll remember you." Terezi snorts.

"Oh, thanks!" You laugh, punching her in the arm. She begins to laugh that obnoxious laugh, but this time you can't cringe. You're too relaxed and happy to feel disgusted with her.

Feferi's the fucking Empress of Alternia. You've never been so proud of anyone in your whole life.


	5. Chapter 5

You and Terezi chatted for about another 2 hours before the others woke up. Gamzee hadn't woken up when the others had. He slept for another 3 hours. The asshole was still exhausted when he finally hauled his ass out of the sleeping bag. You yourself were still ridiculously tired, but thanks to that fucking lump on the ground, you couldn't get yourself back to sleep. Maybe that was or the best, though. You don't fair well with Horror Terrors. Terezi kept trying to make you fall asleep. She tried an arrangement of things. She had sung a Tribal lullaby, and when she was finished, you were close to falling asleep. But, you caught yourself. Then, she had pulled your head into her lap and forced you to lay down. She started rubbing your forehead, and at this point, you were unconscious. Rubbing a Troll's forehead is a custom for Troll's (who kept their grubs after receiving them) to get their grubs to fall asleep. It obviously still works on you. You're pretty sure that Terezi had also tried that because she thought of you as a grub. But, her doing that knocked you out within 3 minutes, and it also got you a couple minutes of sleep, and you're thankful for that.

When you were younger, Kanaya would do that same thing to help you fall asleep when your dreams were pillaged with Horror Terrors. It would calm you down within seconds. Her hands were always so soft, and it helped add to the soothing effect. Who you thought was your Genetic Donor did that as well. That is, whenever he was around. Ahh, your youth was a wonderful think.

Currently, you're being dragged somewhere by Gamzee. The two of you had left camp a few minutes ago,and you've been walking ever since. You had no idea where he was bringing you, and whenever you'd ask him, he'd always say: "The stars". What does that even mean? Was he going to send you up into the endless black that surrounded your planet? How was he going to do that? This is the part where you're supposed to jump to the conclusion that Gamzee was going to turn you into the Drones and they were going to ship you off into space on that labor ship. You know Gamzee's not going to turn you in, so you're telling your pan to fuck off.

Gamzee stops when he reaches a large, grassy hill that overlooks everything you've seen in the past couple of nights. He drops down and sits cross-legged on a soft patch of grass. He pats the ground beside him, gesturing you to sit by him. And, of course, you do.

"Look at the sky, Karbro." Gamzee tells you, his own eyes wandering the skies. Lifting your head, you stare up at the sky with him, but, this time, you're astonished by the sight you see.

The sky is a beautiful hue of fuchsia and several shades of purple melded together. The moons shine brightly over the sky, illuminating the parts around them with slight green and pink luminescence. There are so many stars scattered around in different areas, some forming, as far as you can tell, constellations.

A soft gust of air blows by you and Gamzee, causing you to shiver as you watch the stars and moons give off their beautiful Light. You could see your Breath puffing out in front of you as you breathe. It /was/ rather chilly out, so you're not surprised you can see your breath. You drag your attention back to the beautiful Space of the sky, as you continue to spend your Time watching the stars shine.

"Do you know where we are?" Gamzee asks you, eyes scanning the sky. You shake your head. "This is the viewing Grounds. Out tribe comes here to see their path in life. Every time one of us returns, the sky rearranges itself to match that specific Troll's destiny. What you're seeing now, bro, is my set path."

You continue to stare at the sky in wonder as Gamzee continues to speak.

"The number of stars you see shows how many sweeps of livin' I got left." He explains. "And, all of the constellations tell ya who you're going to meet, and who you've already met. There's no distinction between the two, so it's usually just a surprise. What's your sign, brother?"

You tear your eyes down from the sky to look down at your shirt. It's been so long since you've thought about this kind of stuff, you've started to forget. You examine the black symbol on your shirt, and begin to think. It meant "the crab", you know that much. But, what was its proper name? A few moments of thinking has the name ringing in your pan brightly. "Cancer."

Gamzee examines the sky and then points.

"Right there." He says, pointing to one of the constellations. You look to where he's pointing. It's one of the smaller sigils in the sky. "Looks like we were destined to meet after all."

He smiles at you, and you smile back.

"You ready to see yours?" Gamzee questions you and you nod. "Alright. Give it a sec."

You stare back at the sky, awaiting to see what the stars have to say about it. It's a couple of minutes before the sky changes itself around. More stars and different constellations appear in the place of Gamzee's. There are a lot more stars and constellations filling the sky than there were before.

"Whoa..." You speak. "There's so many..."

"You see, brother?" The shaman began. "The stars already set the path to your destiny. The path you take, the trolls you meet. They were there all along." He turned his head and grinned at you. "The Gods already have your story played out. You've got a long life ahead of ya."

"So..." You begin. "Does that mean they wont catch me?"

"Seems like it." Gamzee grins. You sigh with relief. That means you can relax some more. "But, that's only for now. The entire chart could change even five minutes from now. But, I doubt it will. It rarely does that, you should be fine."

Oh. Well, fuck, here comes your anxiety. Great. Because you totally needed that right now. Regardless of the news, you continue searching the sky. There are 9 constellations up there. That's 9 Trolls that you have already met, and/or are going to meet eventually. If only you could determine what the constellations were, then you could identify who they are. Though, you guess that'd be spoiling the surprise. And from what you can gather, nobody likes spoilers.

Your mind hops to a completely different plane and now questions fill your head.

"Gamzee," You begin. "Do... Do the starts show who a Troll will end up with? Quadrant wise, I mean..."

Gamzee begins to laugh.

"Why, does my little buddy have quadrant crushes on some lucky Trolls?" He asks, still laughing. You feel heat rush up to your cheeks. Fuck, you're blushing, and you're getting increasingly embarrassed as time ticks on. You avoid his eyes as they examine your face. "That a yes?"

You mumble a quiet "kinda" in response to his question. You pull your hood over your head to help hide your face.

"Who ya crushin' on, bro?" Gamzee begins to throw more questions your way. You shake your head. "C'mon dude, y'know I wont tell a soul."

You shake your head again.

"It's either me or Terezi, bro." He points out laughing a bit as he spoke. Fuck, he was right. Damn him. "I'm gonna go out on a whim here and guess you're crushin' on little miss teal beauty."

You whine, and the fucker /knows/ he's right.

"Shit, man, I am /good/." He chuckles. "So, you flushed, pale, or black for our little princess?"

You shrug a bit. To be honest, you're quite conflicted over your feelings for her. You're not sure if it's just a petty grub crush that you always get on other Trolls. All of your past Matesprits and Kismesis' were just crushes you had at the time, and once you got them, you felt nothing. There was never a spark. It was just fake. Terezi probably just annoys you. But, then you have the things she did earlier... God, you can't tell if she likes you or not and it's aggravating the fuck out of you! It's only been a night since you got here, and you're already horn over fucking heals black for some girl you just met! How pathetic is that?!

"Ya think it's a grub crush?" Gamzee asks.

"What are you, a fucking pan reader?!" You should, not exactly meaning to. Your frustration is getting the better of you.

"Somethin' like that." He grins. So, he /has/ been reading your pan. "Not exactly pan readin', brother, it's more complicated."

You roll your eyes.

"Yes, it's probably just a grub crush, Gamzee." You mumble, putting emphasis on his name. "This happens a lot. I may be great when it comes to Romantic advice, but I can't get my fucking quadrants under control. Like, whenever I get someone I was flushed, pale, or black for in that specific quadrant, I lose interest completely."

"Then, it's a grub crush." Gamzee says. "You have to listen to your blood pushed, Karbro, not your pan. Your pan don't know shit."

There's silence.

"But, to answer your question, no, the stars do not show who a Troll will end up with." He explains. "Love or Hate ain't something anybody but yourself can decide for ya. Your romantic life it somethin' you have to manage on your own, you get me?"

You nod in response. You're not sure why, but what he just said made your pumper flutter for a moment. Honest to Mother Grub, you have no fucking idea what's wrong with you. Some of the things this guy says to you makes you really fucking happy. Gamzee's really insightful despite being a Tribal rat. That's something you can respect and admire. Silence overtakes the two of you yet again, and you lift your head to view the sky again.

You notice that your sign is up there. Is it supposed to be there? Thinking back to Gamzee's star chart, you realize that his sign wasn't up there. Does that mean you're going to meet someone who shares your sign? Maybe they're your real Genetic Donor! Oooh, it'd be great to meet the Troll who helped create you. Now you're excited.

"You satisfied with your destiny?" Gamzee asks.

"As long as I don't die, yes." You answer. "I am satisfied."

"Alright then." He says, standing up. "Then, let's head back to camp."

He extends a hand out to you, and you grab it. He pulls you up.

"Hey," You start. "Can we not tell Terezi about... y'know..."

"'Course bro." He chuckles. "It's our little secret.

"Promise?" You ask again.

"Promise." He holds on his hand again, his pinky extended. How childish. Who even does pinky swears anymore?

You do. That's who.

You mimic Gamzee's hand, and link your pinkies together.

"If you tell her, I'll kill you." You threaten him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Gamzee says, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and dragging you along. "I'm a man of my word, Karkat, you've got nothin' to worry about."

You nod as he pats your arm reassuringly. Your blood pushed keeps speeding up, and you're not sure why. What is this asshole DOING to you? He needs to cut out all the fucking pale flirting. What's he trying to do, get you to become his Moirail?

You're not that easy to budge.


	6. Chapter 6

The next bunch of nights fly by faster than you anticipated. You spent your time hanging out with Gamzee and Terezi, usually in a group. You're only even alone with Gamzee, Terezi's always off doing her "own thing", you're not sure what that may be. It was quiet around the camp since you got here, Gamzee told you. Most Trolls stayed in their huts and only few roamed around outside while you were here. He had told you that they feared you were an omen, so they preferred to stay in the safety of their homes. They were avoiding you.

The sun was coming up, which meant it was time to go to sleep. Honestly, you're glad that it' day now. You're fucking exhausted, and you feel like your knees could give out and second. Gamzee worked you /hard/ today. He dragged you out today to go scouting and search for food, and you swear to fuck, you climbed at least 500 trees tonight. He then had you carry 7 baskets of this weird fruit that didn't even look edible, while he carried a few bags of herb. He got himself off easy, that asshole. Your bones and muscle are weak as fuck and you feel worn down to the core. Once you manage to fall asleep, you'll be sleeping like a grub.

You collapse onto your, now moved, sleeping bag, a loud groan emitting from your vocal chords. Your face is in the pillow, and you're laying straight like you're a plank of wood.

Uuuuugh, god, your back hurts. You can't wait to get to sleep.

Gamzee sits down beside you.

"Fuck off, you shit." You grunt, voice muffled by the pillow. "I'm exhausted and I would love to get an actual morning of sleep."

"I know, bro." Gamzee says, scratching behind your horns. Quiet purrs pour out of your throat as he does so, and fuck does it feel nice. "Thought I'd try an' help a motherfucker out with his sleep issues, you feel me? Maybe help keep the horror terrors away."

You turn your head in his direction.

"You're so cheesy it's disgusting." You snort, a tiny smile forming on your lips.

"Alright there, Mister Romcom." Gamzee chuckles. You snarl at him. "Did ya take the pill?"

"You never gave it to me, you ditz." You respond, still purring as he scratches behind your horns.

"Coulda sworn I gave it to ya..." Gamzee says to himself, digging into one of the small bags he has tied around his waist. He takes out a sopor pill. "You sure you're not lyin' to me to get another pill?"

"Gamzee, do I look like a fucking sopor addict to you?" You hiss at him. "Give me the god damn pill so I can sleep today."

Gamzee seems rather distraught over the fact that he forgot to give you the sopor pill. You haven't known Gamzee long enough to tell if he's forgetful or not, but judging by his reaction now, you're guessing he's not.

He drops the pill next to your head and you grab it, throwing it into your mouth and swallowing it. You shut your eyes and prepare to go into a sound sleep. Gamzee continues petting your head and scratch behind your horns and sometimes your ears.

God, you're so fucking tired. You can hardly even wait until this sopor kicks in and throws you into a deep, and now comfortable, sleep. Shortly later, you're snoring up a storm, drooling onto your pillow while you listen to complete silence.

Your dream is... rather... strange? It's jut you. Standing in complete darkness. You're just standing there, looking around the endless nothing, not sure what you're looking for. It's cold, and your body feels numb, and it hurts to breathe for some reason.

After a while of jut floating around in the blackness, you begin to hear voices. They're calling you to them, whispering your name. It's a different voice every time. It's a rotation of 12. Suddenly, your regain all feeling in your body, and you're brought down to an invisible floor. Your legs begin to move for you, and you begin to move closer to the voices. As you get closer, you're able to determine which voice belonged to who, with the exception of 7 that you didn't recognize.

Gamzee.

Feferi.

Terezi.

And Kanaya.

As you continue walking, the darkness slowly fades to grey, and then to white. You can make out 12 figure standing in the distance, all of different heights and proportions. Even from here, you can tell who's who. You seem Gamzee, Terezi, Feferi, Kanaya... and those two boys... the seadweller and the yellow blood, except they look older and are in different clothes. They're all you can recognize. The one you don't know are probably the one you haven't met yet.

There's a guy, about 3 or 4 inches taller than you with a lime colored turtleneck sweater on, with a necklace with the sigil of the Church of the Mothergrub as the pendant around his neck. His horn were tiny and nubby, just like yours.

Beside him is a woman, one who towers over the boy. She has long, straight hair. Her horns are exactly like Kanaya's, except longer. She wears a long black dress that's cut at her right leg.

Then there's this... pink-fleshed looking Troll with no horns and whited out eyes with blue pupil. What the fuck /is/ that? What's wrong with the ears? His skin? Where are his horns?! Everything apart from those things seemed normal from what you can tell. Aside from those ridiculous buck teeth.

You can determine that this thing is a boy, you're sure of that, who has an awkward hair-do that looks like he was caught in a very extreme wind tunnel, with weird white, blue eyes, and... glasses? Maybe. Or maybe he just has square eyes. You can't exactly see the nose piece well from all the way over here. He's wearing a really tight looking black jumpsuit with blue stripes going down the sides. Over it is a light blue, short sleeved jacket, with a white symbol on the sleeve.

Beside him are 3 other weird looking Trolls. Another boy and two girls, all wearing similar suits to the other boy.

A tall boy with sunglasses on stands closely beside the other boy, his arm slung around the shorter ones shoulder. He has light blonde hair, something that you've never actually seen before. He was wearing a jacket similar to the others, except red. Under it was a shirt that was colored a darker shade of red. The jackets backside extended to just above his ankles, as if it were a cape.

Then there were the girls. Both of which looked similar to one of the boys. The blonde girl to the blonde boy, and the brunette girl to the brunette boy. Like they were female counterparts to the boys.

The brunette had circular glasses, and long, black hair that curled slightly at the bottom. What looked like white, mechanical woofbeast ears stuck out of her head, like your species' horns. She had a transparent grey skirt on over her suit, and a black jacket that blended in with her suit, the hood long and split into two.

As for the last girl, you could only tell her hair color by the little bits of hair poking out from under that orange hood covering her eyes. She had a smirk on her face, black lips curling upwards, like she was taunting you. Like, "Oh, you want to see my face? That's rather unfortunate for you, because this is all you'll ever see."

Her arms are crossed, black sleeves over an orange garb. Her garb had a little cape on the back of it, lengthening down to around her elbows. Under her orangey-ness was a black suit, with light purple stripes going down the side of both hips and legs.

And that was all who was there.

You kept moving toward them, but as you'd move, they'd move backward, matching your current speed and your acceleration if you'd move faster.

You'd try to shout out to them, but nothing would come out. Only silence. Their figures began to fade away, as well as their voices.

And, with that, the light disappeared and the darkness flooded all around you. Whispers began to fill the atmosphere, distant screaming and crying, and you could've sworn your heard your own voice.

Then, suddenly, you were in front of the camp, on your knees, blood dripping down the side of your head and various other spots. There was a Drone in front of you, its mechanical eyes flashing red instead of its usual docile green.

"TARGET: FOUND." It sounded, artificial voice booming loudly. It raised its arm, pointing it directly at your head. Its arm began to rearrange itself, the metal shielding lifting and moving back to reveal a large gun. "AIM..."

You flinch, closing your eyes.

"FIRE!"

You lurch forward from your sleep, a scream escaping your mouth. You're sweating, your face flushed, and panting harshly. You look around the hut, panicked. Obviously some time has gone by, because Gamzee isn't in here with you anymore.

You wipe your forehead and take a deep breath. You know exactly what that last part meant. You can't stay here any longer. You're going to get everyone killed, including yourself.

The amount of time you've spent here was too long, and you knew that. Before this, you never spent more than a night in one place. It's too dangerous. You don't know what you were thinking, staying here. This was a horrible idea. The Drones could have caught up with you already, and you'd be fucked.

You have to leave.

Your scream must've been loud enough for the others to hear, because Gamzee comes rushing in through the curtain, panting.

"You alright, brother?" He asks frantically. You nod, standing up. "What happened?"

"Horrorterror." You sigh." Gamzee, look, I need to-"

"Did ya see the future?" Gamzee questions you. You stare at him silently. "Dreams of the future are apart of the effect of the Viewing Grounds, bro. I shoulda probably told ya that last night."

"...I guess I did." You mumble, eyes shifting to the floor.

"What'd ya see?" He asks you once more.

"Death." You say flat out, and you can see the surprise in his expression. "I can't be here anymore. If I stay, all of us will die."

There's a painful silence that rips your bloodpusher in two. You can see that Gamzee doesn't want you to leave, just by the look on his face. You can't blame him, you don't want to leave either. You enjoyed your time here. Gamzee steps towards you and pulls you against him, resting his chin on your head and folding his arms around your waist.

You sigh, wrapping your arms behind his bare back. Your head rests against his chest, and you close your eyes.

"I'll give ya some supplies and take ya to the Bay." Gamzee says, rubbing your back. "There's a cave down there that you could chill in for a few nights. You can take the sleeping bag and pillow."

"Thanks..." You respond.

"Anything for you, brother."

Once the two of you finish packing, you throw on a backpack that Gamzee filled with food, water, and sopor pills, and wait for him at the camps entrance. The sun'll start coming up in about two or three hours, so you need to start moving /now/. Maybe go back to sleep after you get there, even though you slept all day and half the night. You should be energized right now. But, nope, you're the complete opposite of energized.

A yawn escapes your throat. God, you can't wait to go back to sleep. What is Gamzee even doing? What's taking so long? You cross your arms and tap your foot in a fit of impatience.

About a minute or two later, Gamzee comes darting out of a hut and towards you, slowing to your side. He pats your back, gesturing you to follow him. And, of course, you do.

Once again, you're walking in the area that Gamzee had first found you in. There are hardly any trees in this field, only grass and tiny bushes scattered around, with the exception of a few flower patches here and there.

Though, Gamzee is taking you in the opposite direction of the cave, the way that leads to the Bay, a quiet, sandy beach area that wraps around the shore, and extends all the way to the Capitol. From what you can see, this seems to be the ending point of the Bay.

A few minutes of walking brings you to the soft sand, which is almost a relief on your sore, bruised feet.

The area reeked of salt water and fish, a smell that you weren't too fond of whatsoever. The smell reminded you of the violetblood, you could always smell this stench radiating off of him, and sometimes it'd make being around him unbearable. Though, he was a seadweller, so the smell was understandable, but Feferi never smelled like that. He probably spent most of his free time swimming around in the bases salt water pool by the cliff. Maybe.

All the thinking you've been doing lately is starting to give you a headache. You didn't even notice that Gamzee had been talking to you and that you both were nearly to the cave he was telling you about.

"...seadwellers, so you should stay inside 'til it's safe." Gamzee says. You only hear the end of the sentence, but it's enough to understand what he's talking about and heed his warning. There are seadwellers living around here, so they could possibly come and attack you if you're seen by them. You'll have to lay low for a while, far in the cave so they wont see you. "I packed a few books for ya to read in your bag so ya wont be bored."

You nod, showing that you're listening. The two of you finally make it to the cave, and it's not even dawn yet. Thankfully. Gamzee pulls you into another tight hug before pushing you off into the cave.

"I'll try and come visit ya, kay bro?" He tells you, and you reply with a quiet "okay" in response. "I'll see ya around. Bye, Karkat."

And with that, he leaves, and you're all alone again after a week and a half of long needed interaction with other trolls. You sigh and drop down to the floor, placing your bag beside you. At least you'll have something to do while you're hauled up in the hole for some time. You lean against the rocky walls and groan, pulling your bag into your lap and searching through it for a sopor pill.

You yank one out of your bag and force it down your throat.

In a matter of minutes, you're out cold, left to your dreams once again.


End file.
